Mini Eggs Easter Brownies

Name: Mini Eggs Easter Brownies
Prep time: 40 min
Total time: TT172M
Yield: 24
Ingredients: 150 g butter , softened; 150 g golden caster sugar; 1 medium egg , beaten; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 300 g plain flour , sifted; 50 g butter , roughly chopped; 1 tbsp golden syrup; 100 g golden caster sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 medium egg; 50 g plain flour; 250 g mascarpone; 1 tbsp golden syrup; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1-2 tbsp milk; 1 tsp desiccated coconut; Medium sized rabbit cookie cutter and chick cookie cutter; 100 g Cadbury Bournville , broken into small pieces; 24 Cadbury Mini Eggs (approx. 1 x 80 g bag); 24 Cadbury Mini Eggs (approx. 1 x 80 g bag); 1 x 32 g Cadbury Flake

Ingredients
Method

Ingredients for 24

150 g butter , softened
150 g golden caster sugar
1 medium egg , beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
300 g plain flour , sifted
50 g butter , roughly chopped
1 tbsp golden syrup
100 g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium egg
50 g plain flour
250 g mascarpone
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk
1 tsp desiccated coconut
Medium sized rabbit cookie cutter and chick cookie cutter

Methods

Making the biscuit dough:
Using a hand-held electric whisk or free-standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
In a jug, beat the egg and vanilla extract with a fork, then gradually add to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
Gently mix in the flour, in 2-3 batches, to make a soft dough. Divide the dough into 2 equal-sized pieces and pat each one into a disc.
Wrap in cling film. Then chill one disc in the fridge for several hours to firm it up. Place the other in the freezer for later use.
Ready to make the brownies?
Preheat the oven to 180 °C/160 °C fan/gas 4. Line a 24-hole mini muffin tin with mini muffin cases. Heat the butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir occasionally until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
Remove from heat and add the chocolate and vanilla extract. Leave for a few minutes until the chocolate melts, stir until smooth and set aside to cool. Add the egg and beat until thick and velvety. Sift and gently fold in the flour with a metal spoon or plastic spatula, using a figure-of-eight motion.
Transfer to a disposable piping bag and pipe (or alternatively, spoon) half the mixture into the muffin cases, dividing evenly. Place a Mini Egg in each partially filled case, narrower top upwards. Cover with the remaining mixture.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the brownies have risen and are firm to the touch.
Leave to cool completely in the tin – to firm them up. If you like really fudgy brownies, refrigerate before cutting.
While the brownies are baking, roll out the chilled biscuit dough between 2 sheets of baking parchment to the thickness of a 50p piece. If it’s sticky, dust lightly with a little flour.
Peel off the top sheet and cut out 5 chicks and 10 bunnies with cookie cutters.
Peel back the dough trimmings, then use a sharp knife to cut and peel back 5 bunny bodies, leaving 5 bunny heads and 5 full bunny bodies.
Lift the bunnies and chicks, on their parchment, onto a baking tray. Use a cocktail stick to make eyes for the chicks and bunny heads.
Put the tray in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown around the edges. Leave them to firm up for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, make the sweetened mascarpone:
Beat the mascarpone, golden syrup and vanilla extract in a bowl until creamy, adding a few tablespoons of milk or cream, if necessary, to slacken the mix. Using a mini palette knife, spread smoothly over the cooled brownies.
Decorate the biscuits: take 4 white Mini Eggs and cut 3 of them in half horizontally to create the bunnies’ tails. Set 5 tails aside and slice the remaining ones, together with the remaining white Mini Egg, into mini slithers to make the chicks’ feathers. Set aside.
Melt a small piece of the Flake and, with a small paintbrush, use this edible ‘chocolate glue’ to attach the 5 white Mini Egg tails to the back of the bunny biscuits. Paint dabs of the chocolate onto the chick biscuits and sprinkle with the white Mini Egg slithers and desiccated coconut to create the impression of feathers. Leave to set.
Cut the rest of the Flake into small pieces and arrange some of them on top of 5 brownies to look like nests. Place a Mini Egg inside each one. Use the remaining crumbled Flake pieces to scatter over 5 more brownies to look like soil, and put a bunny head in each one to look like a bunny popping his head out of the ground! Place 3 Mini Eggs on top of 4 brownies, in the centre. Finally, place the bunny and chick biscuits on the remaining 10 brownies.